Posted: 7:55 p.m. July 13, 2010

Ceremony set for homeless veterans' apartments

An apartment building constructed to house homeless
veterans and to provide a variety of social services for them will have
its official opening ceremony Thursday.

Piquette Square, which
has 150 one-bedroom apartments, 11,000-square feet of a common area and
commercial space in a four-story brick complex, opened in June at 285
Piquette in Detroit’s New Center area. It’s being billed as one of the
largest projects of its kind in the country.

The ceremony
will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday and will feature speakers Tammy
Duckworth, assistant secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs
for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Detroit Mayor Dave Bing,
Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, and Detroit City Council President
Charles Pugh.

A key component of the $23-million project –
which provides long-term housing – is the support services offered
including mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, job
training, computer labs and educational programs. According to homeless
advocates, there are estimated to be more than 4,000 homeless veterans
in metro Detroit.

The project is being managed by
Detroit-based Southwest Solutions, the developer. For application
information, contact Patricia Harris at 313 841.3727, ext. 381.